Amsterdam DNA

Amsterdam Museum, Amsterdam (NL)

client

Amsterdam Museum

location

Amsterdam Museum, Amsterdam (NL)

completion

2011

surface

550 m2

Amsterdam DNA is a stimulating introduction to the city of Amsterdam and its history. At the core of the exhibition are the characteristics for which Amsterdam is known: entrepreneurship, freedom of thought, creativity and citizenship. These reigned in the Golden Age and in the 1970s, while they were suppressed during the French occupation and World War II. Through an interactive game element in this new exhibition, you can discover with which of the four strands in Amsterdam’s DNA you identify most.

discovering the history through stories The exhibition has seven chapters, which match seven periods that make up Amsterdam’s history. In each chapter, one item from the collection forms the starting point for the story about that period. These stories are being told using exciting animations that are projected onto large glass screens that are suspended in the centre of the space. The voice overs for these animations have been recorded in ten different languages. Each visitor will receive a travel guide in one of the languages, with which they can activate the story for each period in the required language.

red thread A 75-metre long red wall runs throughout the entire exhibition, which depicts the city’s history in a visual way in facts and figures. Interactive elements, such as touch screens, games and interactives that allow you to smell, measure and listen, are also incorporated in this wall. Following the construction of a new bridge, the exhibition sneaks around the civic guards’ gallery. The red wall contains peepholes that allow the civic guards’ gallery to be linked to the exhibition in an extraordinary way.